Animal Study Registry

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Animal Study Registry is an online registry for the preregistration of research studies involving animals. [1] [2] [3] [4] Animal Study Registry was launched in January 2019 and can be used by scientists worldwide.

Contents

History

The reproducibility of animal test results in biomedical research has been questioned repeatedly in the past. [5] [6] [7] Discussions about this replication crisis have already reached the public. In clinical research, the call for transparency led to the introduction of clinical trial registries that disclose the experimental design of clinical trials before the study is conducted. In order to increase the transparency and the quality in the field of preclinical and basic research, the establishment of so-called centralized animal study registries was suggested. [8] [9] The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), as a scientifically independent research institution, has decided to provide an international freely accessible platform for the pre-registration of studies involving animal experiments.

Goal

The causes for the replication crisis in biomedical research are being intensively discussed within the scientific community. [5] [6] The publication bias was identified as one main reason for the lack of reproducibility of research results. This means, only significant and novel results are published while null results are never revealed, which leads to a distorted view of the state of research. [6]  Furthermore, poor study design, poor statistical planning and incomplete method description were, among others, identified as further reasons for non-reproducibility. [6]

The purpose of Animal Study Registry is to register animal experiments with detailed information on methods, working hypotheses and biometric planning prior to the start of the study. Registration of the study plan could reduce the publication bias and prevent practices like data dredging. Indeed, Scientists would have to justify in the future why they differed from the original project planning or why some results were not published. The detailed query of the methods as well as the statistical planning supports the scientists in the study preparation and can thus increase the quality of as well as the reproducibility of the animal experiments. Results from animal experiments that are not published or whose informative value is impaired due to poor study quality can lead to animal experiments being unnecessarily repeated.

Related Research Articles

Reproducibility, closely related to replicability and repeatability, is a major principle underpinning the scientific method. For the findings of a study to be reproducible means that results obtained by an experiment or an observational study or in a statistical analysis of a data set should be achieved again with a high degree of reliability when the study is replicated. There are different kinds of replication but typically replication studies involve different researchers using the same methodology. Only after one or several such successful replications should a result be recognized as scientific knowledge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal testing</span> Use of nonhuman animals in experiments

Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This approach can be contrasted with field studies in which animals are observed in their natural environments or habitats. Experimental research with animals is usually conducted in universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to the industry. The focus of animal testing varies on a continuum from pure research, focusing on developing fundamental knowledge of an organism, to applied research, which may focus on answering some questions of great practical importance, such as finding a cure for a disease. Examples of applied research include testing disease treatments, breeding, defense research, and toxicology, including cosmetics testing. In education, animal testing is sometimes a component of biology or psychology courses. The practice is regulated to varying degrees in different countries.

In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expectations, observer's effect on the participants, observer bias, confirmation bias, and other sources. A blind can be imposed on any participant of an experiment, including subjects, researchers, technicians, data analysts, and evaluators. In some cases, while blinding would be useful, it is impossible or unethical. For example, it is not possible to blind a patient to their treatment in a physical therapy intervention. A good clinical protocol ensures that blinding is as effective as possible within ethical and practical constraints.

In published academic research, publication bias occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research study biases the decision to publish or otherwise distribute it. Publishing only results that show a significant finding disturbs the balance of findings in favor of positive results. The study of publication bias is an important topic in metascience.

Observer bias is one of the types of detection bias and is defined as any kind of systematic divergence from accurate facts during observation and the recording of data and information in studies. The definition can be further expanded upon to include the systematic difference between what is observed due to variation in observers, and what the true value is.

Rat Park was a series of studies into drug addiction conducted in the late 1970s and published between 1978 and 1981 by Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander and his colleagues at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chromosomal inversion</span> Chromosome rearrangement in which a segment of a chromosome is reversed

An inversion is a chromosome rearrangement in which a segment of a chromosome becomes inverted within its original position. An inversion occurs when a chromosome undergoes a two breaks within the chromosomal arm, and the segment between the two breaks inserts itself in the opposite direction in the same chromosome arm. The breakpoints of inversions often happen in regions of repetitive nucleotides, and the regions may be reused in other inversions. Chromosomal segments in inversions can be as small as 100 kilobases or as large as 100 megabases. The number of genes captured by an inversion can range from a handful of genes to hundreds of genes. Inversions can happen either through ectopic recombination, chromosomal breakage and repair, or non-homologous end joining.

<i>Evolution and Human Behavior</i> Academic journal

Evolution and Human Behavior is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior, ranging from evolutionary psychology to evolutionary anthropology and cultural evolution. It is primarily a scientific journal, but articles from scholars in the humanities are also published. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species may be included if their relevance to the human animal is apparent. The journal was established in 1980, and beginning with Volume 18 in 1997 has been published by Elsevier on behalf of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. The editor-in-chief is Debra Lieberman.

In natural and social science research, a protocol is most commonly a predefined procedural method in the design and implementation of an experiment. Protocols are written whenever it is desirable to standardize a laboratory method to ensure successful replication of results by others in the same laboratory or by other laboratories. Additionally, and by extension, protocols have the advantage of facilitating the assessment of experimental results through peer review. In addition to detailed procedures, equipment, and instruments, protocols will also contain study objectives, reasoning for experimental design, reasoning for chosen sample sizes, safety precautions, and how results were calculated and reported, including statistical analysis and any rules for predefining and documenting excluded data to avoid bias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal testing on rodents</span> Overview article

Rodents are commonly used in animal testing, particularly mice and rats, but also guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and others. Mice are the most commonly used vertebrate species, due to their availability, size, low cost, ease of handling, and fast reproduction rate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ioannidis</span> American scientist (born 1965)

John P. A. Ioannidis is a Greek-American physician-scientist, writer and Stanford University professor who has made contributions to evidence-based medicine, epidemiology, and clinical research. Ioannidis studies scientific research itself, meta-research primarily in clinical medicine and the social sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Why Most Published Research Findings Are False</span> 2005 essay written by John Ioannidis

"Why Most Published Research Findings Are False" is a 2005 essay written by John Ioannidis, a professor at the Stanford School of Medicine, and published in PLOS Medicine. It is considered foundational to the field of metascience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Rs (animal research)</span> Principles for ethical use of animals in science

The Three Rs (3Rs) are guiding principles for more ethical use of animals in product testing and scientific research. They were first described by W. M. S. Russell and R. L. Burch in 1959. The 3Rs are:

  1. Replacement:methods which avoid or replace the use of animals in research
  2. Reduction: use of methods that enable researchers to obtain comparable levels of information from fewer animals, or to obtain more information from the same number of animals.
  3. Refinement: use of methods that alleviate or minimize potential pain, suffering or distress, and enhance animal welfare for the animals used.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Replication crisis</span> Observed inability to reproduce scientific studies

The replication crisis is an ongoing methodological crisis in which the results of many scientific studies are difficult or impossible to reproduce. Because the reproducibility of empirical results is an essential part of the scientific method, such failures undermine the credibility of theories building on them and potentially call into question substantial parts of scientific knowledge.

Comparative medicine is a distinct discipline of experimental medicine that uses animal models of human and animal disease in translational and biomedical research. In other words, it relates and leverages biological similarities and differences among species to better understand the mechanism of human and animal disease. It has also been defined as a study of similarities and differences between human and veterinary medicine including the critical role veterinarians, animal resource centers, and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees play in facilitating and ensuring humane and reproducible lab animal care and use. The discipline has been instrumental in many of humanity's most important medical advances.

Metascience is the use of scientific methodology to study science itself. Metascience seeks to increase the quality of scientific research while reducing inefficiency. It is also known as "research on research" and "the science of science", as it uses research methods to study how research is done and find where improvements can be made. Metascience concerns itself with all fields of research and has been described as "a bird's eye view of science". In the words of John Ioannidis, "Science is the best thing that has happened to human beings ... but we can do it better."

Preregistration is the practice of registering the hypotheses, methods, and/or analyses of a scientific study before it is conducted. Clinical trial registration is similar, although it may not require the registration of a study's analysis protocol. Finally, registered reports include the peer review and in principle acceptance of a study protocol prior to data collection.

Sex as a biological variable (SABV) is a research policy recognizing sex as an important variable to consider when designing studies and assessing results. Research including SABV has strengthened the rigor and reproducibility of findings. Public research institutions including the European Commission, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health have instituted SABV policies. Editorial policies were established by various scientific journals recognizing the importance and requiring research to consider SABV.

The ARRIVE guidelines are a set of guidelines for improving experimental design and reporting standards for animal research, drawn up by the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.

Robert Insall is the professor of computational cell biology at University College London and the University of Glasgow. His work focuses on how eukaryotic cells move, and how they choose the direction in which they move. He is known for demonstrating that cells can spread in the body and find their way through mazes by creating gradients of chemoattractants.

References

  1. ↑ "Animal Study Registry". www.animalstudyregistry.org. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  2. ↑ Bert, Bettina; Heinl, Céline; Chmielewska, Justyna; Schwarz, Franziska; Grune, Barbara; Hensel, Andreas; Greiner, Matthias; Schönfelder, Gilbert (2019-10-15). "Refining animal research: The Animal Study Registry". PLOS Biology. 17 (10): e3000463. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000463 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   6793840 . PMID   31613875.
  3. ↑ Heinl, Céline; Chmielewska, Justyna; Olevska, Anastasia; Grune, Barbara; Schönfelder, Gilbert; Bert, Bettina (2020-01-07). "Rethinking the incentive system in science: animal study registries". EMBO Reports. 21 (1): e49709. doi:10.15252/embr.201949709. ISSN   1469-221X. PMC   6945056 . PMID   31867805.
  4. ↑ Olevska, Anastasia; Bert, Bettina; Ebrahimi, Lida; Schönfelder, Gilbert; Heinl, Céline (2021-04-05). "Ensuring Reproducible Research Requires a Support Infrastructure: The Value of Public Registries to Publishers". Science Editor. 44 (1): 4–7. doi: 10.36591/SE-D-4401-4 . S2CID   233563877.
  5. 1 2 Ioannidis, John P.A.; Trikalinos, Thomas A. (2007-04-10). "The appropriateness of asymmetry tests for publication bias in meta-analyses: a large survey". CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal. 176 (8): 1091–1096. doi:10.1503/cmaj.060410. ISSN   0820-3946. PMC   1839799 . PMID   17420491.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Baker, Monya (2016-05-26). "1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility". Nature News. 533 (7604): 452–454. Bibcode:2016Natur.533..452B. doi: 10.1038/533452a . PMID   27225100.
  7. ↑ Arrowsmith, John (2011-04-29). "Trial watch: Phase II failures: 2008–2010". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 10 (5): 328–329. doi:10.1038/nrd3439. ISSN   1474-1784. PMID   21532551. S2CID   33254302.
  8. ↑ Kimmelman, Jonathan; Anderson, James A. (2012-06-07). "Should preclinical studies be registered?". Nature Biotechnology. 30 (6): 488–489. doi:10.1038/nbt.2261. ISSN   1546-1696. PMC   4516408 . PMID   22678379.
  9. ↑ Strech, Daniel; Silva, Diego S.; Wieschowski, Susanne (2016-11-10). "Animal Study Registries: Results from a Stakeholder Analysis on Potential Strengths, Weaknesses, Facilitators, and Barriers". PLOS Biology. 14 (11): e2000391. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2000391 . ISSN   1545-7885. PMC   5104355 . PMID   27832101.


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